this is such a cool picture....and I got to thinking...there have been a lot of 50th anniversaries in our families....my grandparents Alfred & Pauline Axsom, grandparents Grace & Vermal Brown, my parents Bernard & Janet Axsom....and of course, my great grandparents Tom & Gilly Maxwell! just off the top of my head. If I went further back, there might be more....
my grandma Grace's handwriting on back: "Dad, Mom, Jim, Evie, Leland, John, Grace
Tony Eugene Ragan 11-21-84
Kimbery Marie (WMS) 5-5-76Michael Leroy Ragan 7-29-82
Butchy
Karen Kay married Frank Howard Ragan 12-7-74
Frankie Howard stillborn 2-28-75
divorced 11-2-79, got back together, ended it July 1982.
met Rodney Gene Courtney (in coma 1 year, died). He died shortly after Tony's birth.
Karen Kay will be 58 in 9-23.
======================BUTCH's KIDS
Butchy O'Bryan by Judy
George Ross, Floyd Ross, Jerry, David, Michelle (all by Evelyn?), Andrew Mitchall a son of Butch, Sr.
=================JAMES LEE "JIMMY" had James Jr. & Dawn Marie and last Linda Leann (there may be more per Karen Kay.)
===================STEVE- Stevie & Robbie
=========================CINDY-Josh, Jenny, & Malinda
===========================
GARY & BILL none
==================
Butch, Sr was George Ross, so I wonder if Butchy O 'Bryan was also.
7-18-2103
Freeda wrote that Jerry had gone with Oregon family to set up tents for kettle korn, etc. AT one event, they made $1,100 in 4 hours.
The July bookclub book is 687 pages. I felt overwhelmed when I checked it out, but I got it read. It "grabbed me from the start and I didn't want to put it down.
The Mirror (newspaper)
The photograph above, taken in 1942, illustrates how war affects everyone. Along with other schools in our area, the students above, of Ilia school, gathered scrap metal from ditches and from donations to help the United States war effort. During these times when many things were rationed, like gasoline, steel and even nylon used to make hose for women, everyone tried to do their part. Ilia School was located northeast of Mercer on Route W. These were the times when one teacher taught all the students, no matter what grade they were in. The school system was divided up into many 'country schools'. as we like to call them. Soon, school districts began to organize and transport students to larger, more centralized schools. The small country school were a thing of the past. The children above are posed in front of the horse shed at the Ilia school. Many of the students rode horses to school. In the photo above, in front kneeling, from front left: Ada May Wendt, Barbara Shaffer, first name unknown Farr, and Frank Schreffler.......
Kevin Heaton, 47 Kevin Lee Heaton was born to William & Dixie Heaton on November 4, 1965 in Des Moines, Iowa. Kevin went to be with our Lord on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at his home peacefully with his family at his side. Kevin fought a strong battle against Pancreatic Cancer. He woke up each day with hope and determination that his family would live a normal life one day at a time. This disease would not take over their lives!!! Kevin and his sister; Billie Jo were raised in Mercer, Missouri and Wedowee, Alabama. Kevin enjoyed playing football as a child and his adventures with the Boy Scouts. He also liked finding old baseball cards and collecting the important ones. In high school he found a home in the art department and had a natural talent for it. He later went back to school and attained his Associates Degree in General Students from Columbia College. He continued his education through working and chemotherapy treatments to complete his Bachelor of Science Degree; unfortunately he was just shy of completing that goal. He proudly served his country in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and then retired in 2005. Since he was young and still had children at home, playing golf everyday was not an option so he began his second career as civilian contractor for the U.S. Navy. Kevin served as Petty Officer First Class Aviation Ordinance. For the past 7 years he worked with URS. He was an "Ordie" through and through, though he was frustrated at times, he loved every minute of it, and cherished the friends he made around the world. Kevin was a steward and member of the local Teamsters Union for URS. His career in the Navy took him too many places including; NAS Oceana, VA, NAS Cecil Field, FL, NS Mayport, FL, NAS Patuxent River, MD, and finally NAS Lemoore, CA. Many shipmates touched his life and became true friends including; James Willett, Chris Chalmers, Rashun Taylor and Michael Stellpflug. While in the US Navy he served during the following conflicts; Panama Canal, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Operation Hope Somalia and Iraqi Freedom. Kevin truly enjoyed spending time with his family but some of his life's passions were; video games, fishing, football, baseball and of course GOLF. On Saturdays you could find him sitting in his favorite spot, jersey on, Mountain Dew in his hand cheering for the Alabama Crimson Tide Football game. Roll Tide! He loved watching the Jacksonville Jaguars, most of the time they lost but, he always had hope that one day they would find their niche. Kevin traveled to some amazing countries with the Navy and shared those travels with his kids. He planted his roots in Lemoore where he and his family faithfully attended South Valley Community Church in Lemoore. A little funny story of how Kevin and his wife; Laurie met. They met in a bar, where she had asked him to dance and he answered NO, shocking but he did. They sat and talked and then he left with his friend. About an hour later he came back, and they've been together ever since! Fate stepped in that day and made sure they met each other. They we were married on October 6, 1990 at the NAS Cecil Field Chapel in Jacksonville, FL. A funny thing is fate stepped in again, because their first child was born December 15, 1992, 3 years to the day from when they met. The years went by and looking back it was a great life, they had personal demons, and challenges of the Navy, and normal ups and downs of marriage but they fought through them every step of the way together as a family. They were blessed with their second child in 2005, Jacob was their surprise as they were told for years they could not have any more children but obviously God had stepped in. Kevin was beyond excited and he could not wait to see his son, and his son is the spitting image of him. Kevin would want his children and those he cared about to carry on his legacy; that if you stick with something, anything and everything is possible. People make mistakes, no one is perfect, and life gets hard, but you hold on tight to those you love and the ride will be full off happiness and love. As Laurie searched through belongings, she found a box; they had kept every letter that they sent to each other through cruises and deployments. In that she found the first letter he ever wrote her on March 11, 1990. They were not yet married, but were making plans to be married when he returned. He said regarding our last day together before he left on cruise, "I had a good time on Sunday, I didn't want to leave, and I hope you had fun to too. I miss you like crazy. I want to know what you did to me. I've never felt like this towards anyone. I love you so very much. I've never even thought about marriage before I met you, you don't have to worry about me, and I could not imagine having a life without you being there. I want to marry you, I want to take care of you, spend my days and nights with you have a family with you, grow old with you. You are all I have ever needed or wanted and I love you with all my heart. I can't wait to see you at the terminal when I get back so we can just get away just the two of us." He loved his family with all his heart, and always put them first. He made sure his kids had everything in life he didn't have and for them to know every day that he loved them beyond words. Kevin was preceded in death by his parents. Kevin will be truly missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife; Laurie C. Heaton with his two beautiful children; Taylor Heaton and Jacob Heaton all of Hanford, CA. He also leaves behind his dear sister; Billie Jo Heaton and her sweetheart; Kevin Mcaninch of Princeton, MO along with his niece; Leslie Honn and nephews; Steven Honn and Chase Rion. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at South Valley Community Church with U.S. Navy Full Military Funeral Honors; 1050 W. Bush Street, Lemoore, CA 93245. The family has requested that donations be made in Kevin's name to the family, the funeral home or to the American Cancer Society ; www.cancer.org/donate
Aunt Mary sent me a story she'd written for Life Stories class at the Mid-Continent Genealogy Library in Independence, MO. dated 9-21-2013
In a letter of condolences following the death of my dad, Alfred, 87, Aunt Mickey wrote: Your dad was your hero.
This was a profound acknowledgement. Indeed! My dad was my hero!
Dad grew up in South Dakota during the depression after moving there at age 6 with his family to homestead. In 1933, with the exception of his oldest sister who'd died of typhoid fever, the family moved back to north Missouri to a farm not many miles from his birthplace. It was there on a neighboring farm that he first saw the girl who would become his future wife and to whom he would one day write a poem declaring her, "My brown eyed queen."
Life was not always easy for dad and mom. They lived with Grandpa Johnnie and Grandma Daisy a few months while fixing up a house on their farm about a mile away. It was there, I was born on their nine month's anniversary and at eleven months battled whooping cough. Within barely four years, I had a sister and a brother all with blue eyes like dad who'd hoped they'd have a brown eyed child.
Sometimes dad would let us wade in the creek and play in the sand alongside the field where he was working with horse drawn equipment. Although he had dark brown hair, which he combed straight back, he had fair skin that freckled and sunburned easily same as me. His forehead, however, shielded by a hat from the sun's damaging rays remained white. His other attire was a pair of bibbed overalls and a pair of high top, laced up, "Lil' Abner" style, work shoes.
During my first eight years of life, dad bought us a gentle, Shetland pony named "Sparkle". That fall, my third grade of school, he drilled me on my multiplication tables. Dad was good in math and figuring in his head. Many times he'd become impatient with me and I, in frustration, would be in tears. Mom found these evenings were upsetting, but I learned, nevertheless, a lesson in fortitude.
The summer I turned ten was a frightening time for our family. Dad returned home from the harvest field shortly after he and the neighbor threshands had eaten dinner. Farm folks called the noon meal "dinner" and the evening meal "supper". He was hallucinating, telling mom and Grandma Daisy (who'd come to help mom prepare a scrumptious, hearty meal), that he other men were plotting against him with intent to harm him and his family.
Grandma Daisy hurried home to refer to her huge doctor's book (a book forbidden for children to look at) and to return with Grandpa Johnnie and his brother Uncle Willie.
Grandma Daisy diagnosed dad with having a nervous breakdown. I believe that dad suffered a heat stroke. Prior to dinner, dad and a neighbor had been inside a barn, grain crib shoveling oats away from a window as they came in by chute. There would have been dust and barely any ventilation.
Uncle Willie sat on the back steps to our screened in porch with a gun across his lap, assuring us that he'd protect us. I don't know if the gun was loaded, but one thing was certain. I was scared!
Grandma and Grandpa helped milk the cows morning and night. I remember proudly carrying a bucket of milk to dad's bedside to show him that I was helping. A neighbor man came to visit dad and offered to help.
It was three weeks before dad agreed to see a doctor, a chiropractor, in Trenton,Mo., 45 miles away. He felt ashamed to a local doctor, believing his illness had a stigma attached.
During those trips to and from Trenton, dad, mom, and Grandpa Johnnie began looking at farms in that vicinity as dad wanted to move away.
In March, 1951, we moved to a farm north of Trenton. The house lacked indoor plumbing, but we now had electricity. It would be several years before we had bottle gas rather than wood for heating and cooking. For the first time, we children rode a bus to a big school in town. Quite a drastic difference from walking to a one room country school!
Shortly before I turned twelve, mom had their fourth and last child by Cesarean, a boy with brown eyes whoe was named Roger.
Upon my graduation from high school and turning eighteen, I felt that it was time for me to leave home and seek employment. Dad responded, "Why don't you stay home and just enjoy this summer with your siblings? Once you put your nose to the grindstone, it will be a long, hard grind!" I had always known that dad loved his family, but it was then that I fully grasped the magnitude of his love, generosity, tender heartedness, and wisdom.
In April, 1964, mom and dad made a move that would change their lives forever. Many of their registered dairy cows were going lame from eating fescue grass that had an invisible mold. Heartsick, Dad wanted to give up farming at age 51. Following an auction, they loaded what few belongings they could into their car and they and Roger, age 12, set our for California to work.
They all loved the climate in San Jose where Grandma Daisy worked and lived with a daughter. They planted fruit trees, grapes and berries and always had a small garden. We teased dad, telling him, "You can take dad out of the country, but you can't take the country out of dad!"
With the exception of losing Roger, their youngest child at age 34, mom and dad enjoyed 53 years together. I can still see dad, 5'8", standing beside a 6'6" nephew, lingering one last time by mom's open casket. He may not have been tall in stature, but he stood tall in my eyes.
Mary Johnson
The Mount Ayr Record-News 1931 OBITUARY. Nona May AXSOM, daughter of John T. and Daisy Boyd AXSOM, was born near Pleasanton, Decatur County, Iowa, October 20, 1908, and died September 17, 1931, near Kellerton. Her early childhood was spent in Mercer and Harrison Counties, Missouri, and later the family moved to Potter County, South Dakota, where she engaged in teaching in the public schools of that county. She leaves to mourn her departure her father and mother, two sisters, Anne and Viola, one of whom now lies seriously ill with typhoid fever at the home of her aunt, Mrs. Ed O. MOORE, and two brothers, Alfred and Marvin, all residing at home in Lebanon, S.D., and two grandmothers and other relatives and a host of friends in Missouri and South Dakota. Funeral services were held from the Christian Church, conducted by the pastor, Rev. KRATZER, and burial was in the Maple Row Cemetery [Kellerton].
In Memory of Kevin Heaton November 4, 1965 - September 10, 2013 Obituary Kevin Heaton, 47 passed on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 in Hanford. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at South Valley Community Church; 1050 W. Bush Street, Lemoore, CA 93245 559-924-3458. Services are under the direction of People's Funeral Chapel.
Laurie Heaton Memorial Services for Kevin Heaton have been set for Saturday Sept 21, 2013 @ 11am. Services will be held at South Valley Community Church, Lemoore California (reception to follow). As we all know Kevin LOVED Alabama Crimson Tide football, and as much as it drove him crazy it at times, he loved being a US Navy Aviation Ordinanceman, with that we would like to honor him by wearing RED to his services. The family is requesting in lieu of flowers, donations can be made directly to the Family ( address can be given or see the Rallying for Heaton Family link), Peoples Funeral Home c/o Kevin Heaton (Hanford, Ca.) or the American Cancer Society. The family appreciates all the love and support they receive on a daily basis. They are truly touched by the lives that Kevin touched and the friends he made along every path of his life. We thank you. ( please feel free to pass this information along)
